Meanwhile, just two blocks away, Alterra Coffee Roasters Inc.'s cafe and wholesale bakery is buzzing with customers, one month after it began serving the public.

Those two projects, with their investments totaling $16 million, are among a burst of new development along a short stretch of S. Kinnickinnic Ave., Bay View's main commercial street. Others include Odd Duck, a restaurant featuring a small plate menu; ChocoBella, which sells gelato and hand-dipped chocolates; and an office for bonadrag.com, an online fashion boutique.

Next up: the long-delayed revival of the Avalon Theater, which closed in 2000. Owner Lee Barczak, who recently bought and reopened the Rosebud Cinema in Wauwatosa and will soon reopen the Times Cinema on the Wauwatosa-Milwaukee border, plans to start remodeling the Avalon during the first quarter of 2013.

"I really think Kinnickinnic is doing well," said Barczak, who earlier this year bought buildings that house ChocoBella and a nearby hair salon that is set to open soon.

Some of the street's shops, restaurants and taverns draw customers from throughout the Milwaukee area. Kinnickinnic Ave. also benefits from the continued flow of new, younger residents into Bay View.

That's reflected in Dwell, 2440 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., where most residents are in their 20s, said Hawley, who worked with Kyle Strigenz in developing the apartments.

"We hit the market at the right time," Hawley said. "A lot of people are renting now instead of buying a home."

They include Gerard Gawrys, who moved to Dwell in July. Gawrys, a pharmacist, came to Milwaukee from New York and found that Bay View reminded him of Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, with its mix of young professionals, artistic and creative people, older homeowners, locally owned businesses and walkable scale.

Dwell's market-rate apartments have monthly rents ranging from $850 for studio units to $1,870 for the largest two-bedroom units.

The building has 14 units set aside for people who earn no more than 60% of the area median income, with rents ranging from $700 to $890. Those units are offered at below-market rents because the developers sold low-interest, tax-exempt bonds to help finance the $12 million development.

Dwell also has street-level commercial space, where the new businesses so far include Community Bark, a combined dog wash and coffee bar, and Snap Fitness.

Theater plans

The Avalon, 2473 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., and its adjacent retail space and 19 apartments were sold to Barczak in 2005 for $1.1 million. But his plans to revamp the movie theater by dividing the Avalon into six screens, while also creating a boutique hotel and restaurant, were "too grandiose," he said, and banks wouldn't touch the project.

Despite the theater remaining dark, the property turns a profit through rental income generated by the apartments and retail space, which includes Wild Workouts and Wellness, Bigfoot Bike and Skate, and The Brass Rooster, which sells men's hats and accessories.

It helped that Barczak paid a relatively low price for the building. With the Rosebud and Times reopening, and the economy continuing its slow recovery, Barczak is now ready to spend $2 million to $3 million on adding a kitchen, new seats and other improvements to revive the Avalon as a place where moviegoers can enjoy sit-down casual dining, with beer and wine available.

Meanwhile, the Avalon's apartments are drawing more renters "who want to be close to a vibrant urban area," Barczak said.

Busier than expected

That vibrancy is on display daily at Alterra's new cafe, which opened in August, at the southwest corner of S. Kinnickinnic and E. Lincoln avenues. Patrons sit throughout two levels, and in an outdoor patio, sipping lattes and munching on muffins, cookies and other items that come from the building's wholesale bakery.

The bakery, which opened in June, has about 50 full-time employees and serves all of Alterra's cafes as well as other restaurants that buy baked items from the company. It uses 10,000 square feet, five times the amount of space at its former location in Alterra's headquarters in the Riverwest neighborhood.

The privately financed $4 million development has about 25 full- and part-time employees at the cafe. It has drawn more business, especially on weekends, than Alterra's managers expected, with the company adding staff at that location, said Scott Schwebel, marketing director.

"We've been very pleased with how the neighborhood has welcomed us," Schwebel said.

Alterra and other new retail businesses on S. Kinnickinnic Ave. will help Dwell fill its remaining units, Hawley said.

"More things keep going up in that neighborhood that make people want to live there," he said.